Bud jumped at the sudden command barked by the truck. He yanked the steering wheel hard to the left, sending his truck careening down the side of a steep, heavily foliaged embankment. Breaking through the trees, the truck spun and screeched to a stop in a parking spot at his destination. Shaking, Bud eyed the scattered mail that had come to rest in the footwell of the passenger seat. Among the letters was one from Garmin labeled Recall Notice.

It is a source of amazement and amusement when people follow GPS instructions against their better judgment.
Glad he made it to the bottom of the hill safely. Sounds like he’s lucky he didn’t go flying through the windshield.

This is the first response I’ve read this week that made me giggle. Initially, I was getting quite analytical & was thinking about how easy it is for humans to take direction – we do as we are told – even if it seems not quite right.
Loved this!

See, this is exactly why I hate the voice inside the GPS. Soothing and annoying all at the same time. Sometimes I think my GPS is going to get angry with me and call me names. I truly enjoyed your story. Great take on the prompt!

As to “why Garmin” … I’m just assuming that the GPS device is a Garmin either mounted on or built into the dash. I often find myself writing about a somewhat dysfunctional (if not dystopian) future society where the various electronic gadgets are married together, so I imagine the Garmin voice as being the truck’s voice.

Great description of the driving down the embankment. The computer is never to be trusted! Great take on the prompt! This seems extreme, but I can totally see it happening. Sometimes, we give the GPS too much credit. Have you ever seen the GPS video with Morgan Freeman? It’s a riot!

I was in a car once with a lady friend looking for her brother’s apartment. We were driving along the road and could see an apartment complex across the field to the right but no clear way to get there. Each time as we passed the complex, the GPS device would bark “NAVIGATE OFF ROAD!” I was laughing hysterically by the time we finally made it to that parking lot. 😛